Snape's Redemption?

[Dark One]

Matthew has said on FanFiction.Net that he will be following DH in his story, but does that mean he will be making Snape a good guy? Like in DH? I think it's too late for that, since he already made Snape too evil, plus he hinted at his own reasons for Dumbledore's trust in Snape, and furthermore I think that was awfully contrived in DH anyway. Anyone want to take me up on this? The fact that he knew his mother makes him all the more despicable, since he's cruel to her son knowing ALL THE WHILE that Lily would HATE him for it. It's unforgivable. As someone with an abuser for a father, I tend to not want to get judged by him or get associated with him, and as far as I'm concerned, this cuts down to the bone.

[Essex]

Matthew has said on FanFiction.Net that he will be following DH in his story, but does that mean he will be making Snape a good guy? Like in DH? I think it's too late for that, since he already made Snape too evil, plus he hinted at his own reasons for Dumbledore's trust in Snape, and furthermore I think that was awfully contrived in DH anyway. Anyone want to take me up on this? The fact that he knew his mother makes him all the more despicable, since he's cruel to her son knowing ALL THE WHILE that Lily would HATE him for it. It's unforgivable. As someone with an abuser for a father, I tend to not want to get judged by him or get associated with him, and as far as I'm concerned, this cuts down to the bone.

I believe that Veridian indicated that, in the 'future' timeline that Harry comes from, Snape's fate was unknown (and deliberately left that way as the fic was started before book seven). Snape may have been loyal to Dumbledore and got killed by Voldemort when this became known, or he may have sided with Voldemort and gotten killed by some nameless Auror.

[MrRigger2]

As I recall, Snape's fate in the Future Past was left purposefully ambiguous. As was Draco's. The meta reason for this was because DH wasn't out yet, and Viridian didn't want to color the fic after it's release, or have to go redo something. However, in the current timeline, due to Harry's actions, Snape and Draco have changed, and not necessarily for the better. Things escalated much faster due to Harry's reactions, and Draco and Snape ended up gone from Hogwarts.

MrRigger

[Wraith422]

The fact that he knew his mother makes him all the more despicable, since he's cruel to her son knowing ALL THE WHILE that Lily would HATE him for it.

Uh-huh....and who's to say that wasn't his plan?

It seemed that he considered (granted, not an entirely unfounded point of view) Lily's death to be completely and totally his fault. So, who's to say that he wasn't accomplishing a number of points when he was such a prat to Harry? First, he gets to hate on the last remaining traces of James Potter; if he squints his eyes just enough in Potions, he can pretend that those eyes are hazel, not green, and torment to his black heart's content. Second, he is being constantly reminded by seeing Harry that Lily was never his, and never would be. Lastly, if he is so obnoxious to Harry, obviously Harry will learn to violently dislike him; therefore forming an endless loop where Severus punishes himself ad nauseum by making the last traces of Lily Evans on Earth hate him.

Certainly, he tormented Harry knowing Lily would have hexed him for it. Maybe that was his sentiment, as well; since he was basically complicit in her death, he deserved her hatred, and set out to punish himself the best (and also, most poetic) way he could. Maybe I'm reading too much tragedy into Severus' story, but thinking of his actions that way certainly gave me a different perspective on him.

[Dechstreme]

That... actually makes sense. People with guilt complexes have been known to do crazy things in order to punish themselves. That was a good post.

[Psaid]

In DH or cannon I've seen Snapes treatment of Harry to be because Harry was like a constant reminder tounting him that Lily choose James "The Ass" Potter over him, plus that he looked like James, meaning that Snape could ignore the eyes and see him as being James and getting revenge, childish but not neccesarily evil.

In NoFP the hatred could be explain in a completely different way, one that is quite sinester from Snapes point of view: From what Snape can see, Harry is gathering followers, maybe even minions, teaching them to hide things from others and fight both muggle and magically. He shows a lot of disregard for rules and seems to disrespect autority (Snape and Dumbledore in particular) and seems opposed to the leadership of the wizarding world in general. All these traits would properly fit on dark lords in general, so Snape could be seeing Harry as going dark, which is a huge insult to Lilys memory since she gave her life to protect him from a dark lord.

We all know that that isn't what Harry is doing, but Snape doesn't, so he reacts to what he perceives is going on.

[Calinero]

While Snape certainly is not professional, I do agree that it must have been somewhat irking for him, especially in NoFP where Harry is hostile to him. I vaguely recall the book mentioning that it was frustrating for him to see James's face looking at him with Lily's eyes.

[Bug-Eyed Earl]

Well, off the top of my head, there was a reference early on to Harry knowing why DD trusted Snape, but it was not explained. This had to be a reference to what DH might or might not reveal. I even remember on the Yahoo! group Matthew asked if he should go ahead and put in his own reason for DD trusting Snape rather than waiting for DH. But that said, it seems that he's probably going for the DH reason. Which means that Harry knows Snape loved his mother. I would love to read Future Harry's thoughts on this at some point. He has to tell Remus and Sirius if he hasn't already.

When you think about it, Snape is still evil in canon in a lot of ways. He was hell-bent on the destruction of the dark wizard who personally wronged him, for sure, but the way he acted in general spoke at a horrible person through and through. In fact, the way he was suddenly almost a different person when dealing with Lily, makes him flat-out creepy. Frankly, I can see Snape giving up on Lily's son after everything that has happened.

What do you all think of the old Snape-lover's argument that Snape is a dick to Harry because it would blow his cover? When I point out that LV himself started out as a charmer and Lucius Malfoy told Draco it would be a bad idea to appear less than fond of Harry Potter, I am always met with silence. There are even people who say he favors the Slytherins because of his role as a spy. I have pointed out that if you imagine that playing out- specifically, he punishes a snake, and we see a scene of LV getting angry and crucio-ing Snape-for giving detentions and taking house points from Slytherin-, the absurdity is obvious. In fact, its a mark against him as a spy, because he ensures that many who should trust him do not.

[Chuckg]

What do you all think of the old Snape-lover's argument that Snape is a dick to Harry because it would blow his cover? When I point out that LV himself started out as a charmer and Lucius Malfoy told Draco it would be a bad idea to appear less than fond of Harry Potter, I am always met with silence. There are even people who say he favors the Slytherins because of his role as a spy.

I can actually buy him favoring the Slytherins as a Machiavellian gambit -- I mean, have you noticed that the average Slytherin bully actually has no cunning at all? They're about as subtle as monster trucks with car alarms during an earthquake. The reason for this is simple: with Snape covering for them as blatantly as he does, they've never had to learn how to operate covertly. And with Snape giving them free passes in potions class, they're not actually learning much there either. Snape's favoritism is ensuring that the next generation of potential Death Eater recruits is coming in undertrained, overconfident, and unaware of the gaps in their education. Granted, the above is an exercise in Fridge Logic: realistically speaking, the war would be over one way or the other before the above becomes a significant factor, so why bother? Still, there is at least some logic to it.

However, I entirely agree that Snape's horrid treatment of Harry is just Snape being an asshole. Its hardly necessary to his cover as a spy at all -- as you and I have both pointed out before, a double agent has every excuse in the world for being as apparently friendly with the enemy as he can. That's his job.

[jgkitarel]

Frankly, whether Harry knows or not doesn't really matter. He has considered that he may have to kill Snape already. NoFP Harry, unlike Canon Harry is not nearly as nice or forgiving once you're on his list of enemies. His actions to the Slytherins in Second year points this out. He wouldn't kill them, this time, but his actions were a warning that he would retaliate in kind, and was not above a preemptive strike.

Also, as he told Milicent after her sister was murdered. Just point him to who was responsible, and the one responsible was going to die.

He doesn't like it, but he has already committed himself.

Snape is going to have to be very quick with his wits if he wants to survive.

[unknown14396]

I think Viridian made Snape a lot darker than he was in canon, however he does it in a way that is believable, since it's being triggered by the way future Harry acts. As for canon Snape, he is the classic Anti-Hero. He has very little redeeming qualities, which is part in parcel of the definition of the Anti-Hero. I am not very fond of him as an individual, but when you look at what he had to deal with, he really was royally screwed by everyone for his entire life.

His abusive childhood with a drunken, abusive father and passive agressive mother made for a very bad setup for his early development. He was socially inept and his father's behavior and mother's whispered comments about muggles being worthless creatures had to have screwed with his mental makeup. Lily threw a wrench in that but being a child and growing up in a rather protective environment, she was incapable of dealing with Sev's issues appropriately. If the scene at the lake and other's can be believed, she was also quite vain, self centered and conceited when she wanted to be and the description of her home lend to the notion that at least to some extent, she was a bit spoiled as well. All of that made her very ill suited for helping Sev grow up to be a better person. The scene at the lake, which I felt also hinted at the growing attraction between Lily and James could be seen as the culmination of their growing apart and what Sev had to consider a base betrayal on Lily's part.
Sev at the same time ended up in the worst possible house. If JKR's description can be trusted, he was in a very difficult position in Slytherin. Being a halfblood in itself opened him up for harrassment and opposing the scions of some very prominent purebloods such as Avery, Mulciber and Malfoy would have been suicide. From what we saw of Slughorn in the books, he didn't seem to be the type of person that exerted a lot of control over his own house but rather preferred to expand his own social standing and didn't seem to care and protect those that couldn't help him in the long run. Sev most likely wasn't a slug club member. In so far, Viridian portrayed Slughorn much more favorable than JKR did. Whether that was because of his own nature or Dumbledore's desire to coax the dark aligned children to the light is up for interpretation.
The third factor is Dumbledore. Viridian portrays him as much less macchiavellian as I believe the man really was. If there was one person in the books I considered truly evil, it was Dumbledore. For him, human beings were merely toys in his grand plan. He never really deviated from his "Greater Good" agenda, he just was more subtle than Grindelwald about it. If you look at the way he handled the horcrux business (which conveniently didn't pop up until very late in the game, what he did in the prior decades is a mystery to me), the basilisk (a second year figuring it out before the great Dumbledore, please) and how he conveniently played to Harry's protective instincts by deliberately excluding Ginny (the only person that could have really stopped Harry from sacrificing himself) from the list of people that could know is disgusting. Especially the issue of Ginny. It had to be a win win situation for him. Either Harry would die to protect her or if she died under the Carrows to follow her willingly into death. Perfect for his little scenario. Even Snape as headmaster couldn't prevent everything from happening at Hogwarts without blowing his cover. In a less child friendly more realistic version of the books, the chance of Ginny getting raped at minimum at Hogwarts would have been a likely scenario. Given this type of personality with his "saving the poor dark children from themselves" complex, I can see him throwing Sev under the bus, in particular since he seemed to have been quite enamored with the Marauders, who he wanted very desperately to recruit for his cause. James because of his wealth, Sirius for his Black heritage as an example of a dark child gone light and Remus for his potential connections to the werewolf community as a counterweight to Greyback. Wormtail was just part and parcel of that little group and probably knew that he would be thrown under the bus as well, if it became necessary for Dumbledore's plans. Along these lines, I find it unbelievable that he didn't insist on being secret keeper himself or that he allowed the Longbottoms to be unprotected after Voldemort's fall. He had to have known they would be a target for potential attack. The most likely scenario was that he was planning for an event like Halloween night and the Longbottoms needed to be out of the way as well to avoid potential interference. In the same vain, having Sirius chucked into Azkaban fit his agenda for keeping Harry under wraps because a free Sirius would never have allowed Harry to go to the Dursleys. I also don't think he was too unhappy that Sirius snuffed it in book 5.
Finally the Marauders. While Sirius gets the benefit of the doubt of his family environment severely impairing his judgement, James was plain an simply a spoiled, bullying, rich-kid arse of a jock. Nothing in the book gave him any redeeming qualities as a human being and I really don't buy into the notion that he changed so much in his later years. I rather liked to believe that he became better at hiding the nasty aspects of his personality (as many jocks and bullies do) and was made head-boy as a recruitment tool for the OOTP by Dumbledore. That was probably what made him attractive to Lily who, as I described above, wasn't quite the saint everyone makes her out to be but rather a bit of a spoiled princess with quite a bit of social ambition herself. To date a rich quidditch jock and headboy had to appeal to that side of her personality.
That coupled with the attempted murder being hushed up had to be the straw that broke the camels back for Severus. Really, he had no motivation to be a nicer person and book 7 made it very clear that he knew Dumbledore was using him and didn't give a shit about him otherwise. I can see why that together with the constant reminder of losing Lily to James and to death had to kill him inside. Leading to the self destructive, loathing, self punishing personality described above.
Cheers,

SnakeCharmer

[unknown5858]

Ouch. That's gotta sting. Lots.

But that doesn't make it any less true, however.

[gman391]

Wait hold up. Let stop and think this through. Now I will be the first in line to say Dumbledore was an incompetent screw up. But I don't think he was ever purposefully evil.

Now the greater good thing can be very damaging. But a lot of people who genuinely believed they were doing good have used that to justify some pretty horrible things. So at worse Dumbledore has fallen into the old "Ends justify the Means" trap.

On a different point. Dumbledore has spent the prior 15 or so years before Tommy Boy's rise having everyone say "Dude you're like 5 different kinds of awesome" And the phoenix didn't really help that. You hear things enough time you start to believe it. Dumbledore is just as human as everyone else. Which means he would again start to believe he's that awesome. He's not but again he's not making any mistakes that haven't been made for centuries.

Justified or not Dumbledore was expected by the people and himself to do something. Even if he hadn't the foggiest. Which brings me to my next point.

But I think the biggest problem is that Dumbledore was never prepared for a leadership role. He started out as a brilliant student that same brilliance can isolate a person they genuinely don't get why other people aren't following their train of thought. He then had his brush with darkness. Seeing the cost he decided to become a teacher. (Those who can't do teach)

Then Tommy boy and Grindewald both came on the scene. Dumbledore screwed up with Tommy no question. On the other hand he was a teacher and time and again teachers have been shown to at the very least believe in privacy in JKR's verse. It wasn't until the mid twentieth that both the law and society started expecting teachers to interfere in a student's home life. It's doubtful that the Wizarding world has even begun to reach that point. Again not purposeful evil but just going with social norms.

Grindewald on the other hand was something completely different. Dumbledore sat things out believing correctly that it wasn't really his job to stop dark lords. He was a teacher not a soldier or an Auror or anything like that. And when he did get involved then things ended fairly quickly.

And thats where things went horribly wrong. Dumbledore at no point was equipped either emotionally or mentally to become the leader of the Wizarding world. If he had been mentored a bit better things would be different. As it is you have a semi-isolated genius teacher responsible for roughly half the government and more besides. Something he didn't handle well but Dumbledore tried. Tried to do to much. And because of that some very important people fell through the cracks.

Could he have done better? Hell yes. But it was never intentional evil that he committed. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and Dumbledore's happened to be better paved then most.

[Dechstreme]

Do people forget that they only showed one instance of bullying by James against Snape? We aren't really given any clue as to how James and Lily developed while they were growing up. He could have outgrown the Jerk Jock stage, if he was indeed a Jerk Jock.

James and Lily Potter's lives growing up in the original set of novels are by and large a mystery with very few clues given. Severus memory of that one incident was very shocking, but also remember that Severus was trying his best to fit in with his own Slytherin house. Part of the reasons whatever friendship he had with Lily was damaged was also because he was willingly falling in with a bunch of bigots who thought Muggleborns like LILY HERSELF were filth that shouldn't be allowed to do magic. Snake Charmer, when you think about it that way, it means he chose his new crew over his oldest and only friend in trying to fit in. Lily wasn't being as shallow as you think she was: Severus drove her away in a sense.

Remember also that James willingly befriended a werewolf, Remus, an outcast. Sirius Black was also an outcast himself due to moving away from his family's believes, which conflict with him being a spoiled rich jerk jock of a kid. As for bullying Severus, we know Snape fell in with a bad group by his own will, and probably was more than just a hanger on, so James and some of the other Marauders might have considered him an acceptable target.

Also, I don't think he bullied Sev forever. At one point, he probably had to choose between keeping bullying Snape, or Lily, who was Severus friend and wouldn't stand for James treatment of him. I think we all know what James Chose.

And Snape himself has been shown to be highly antagonistic to many people who aren't Lily Potter. It's easy to say "Oh, James was a jerk who picked on poor Severus", but you shouldn't forget that Sev was a guy with serious issues and might not have been all that pleasant to others. James could have tried to befriend him at some point, but it didn't work out, and the picking on Severus could have been fallout from that. And bear in mind that they were children at first, and then adolescents, not mature adults.

Severus Snape isn't a one dimensional character, but pleas bear in mind that James isn't necessarily one dimensional himself all because of the few instances we get glimpses into the past. And were the hell do you get the whole Lily being a spoiled princess, SnakeCHarmer?

[Chuckg]

You have to wonder why Severus Snape, master spy, master Occlumens, man whose very life has depended on keeping his secrets secret for decades, and master of a profession that above all other magical professions (save possibly Unspeakable) teaches one the value of rigorous, un-lapsing devotion to safety precautions and attention to detail...

... deliberately flaunted his use of Dumbledore's pensieve in front of Harry Potter at the start of every Occlumency lesson, when he could have just done it before Harry showed up and then locked the bloody thing in his desk.

And then leaves Harry alone with it when Draco Malfoy, of all people, runs in to tell Professor Snape that his presence is needed elsewhere urgently, without taking five seconds out to lock the pensieve up first.

And then remember that pensieve memories can be altered / selectively edited.

I personally go with the theory that Snape set Harry up to look in that pensieve... and made sure that the memories he found there were deliberately as unflattering to James Potter as he could arrange. IOW, I do not trust them.

[Essex]

<snip>

But I think the biggest problem is that Dumbledore was never prepared for a leadership role. He started out as a brilliant student that same brilliance can isolate a person they genuinely don't get why other people aren't following their train of thought. He then had his brush with darkness. Seeing the cost he decided to become a teacher. (Those who can't do teach)

<snip>

Grindewald on the other hand was something completely different. Dumbledore sat things out believing correctly that it wasn't really his job to stop dark lords. He was a teacher not a soldier or an Auror or anything like that. And when he did get involved then things ended fairly quickly.

<snip>

I mostly agree with you. From my perspective, Dumbledore's problem was one of addiction. After his youthful crush on Grindlewald crashed and burned, Dumbledore came to the horrid realization that he was addicted to power. His response was to do everything that he could to avoid exercising significant power. Becoming a teacher was his way of running away from the sort of government position expected of someone with his NEWT scores and family background (as this choice put him in a position of authority over impressionable children, it failed to accomplish his goal).

When he was eventually shamed into confronting Grindelwald (it was obvious to the Wizarding World that a brilliant and powerful Wizard such as him should be out there in battle, much the same way that every able bodied male muggle joined the war effort against Hitler), his victory brought him to the public attention in a manner that he did not want, and they kept trying to push him into being the Minister of Magic, a position that he most definitely did not want.

As the decades passed, Dumbledore was forced to accept more and more important positions, and he responded by failing to wield the authority associated with any of them because he was like a recovering alcoholic in a well stocked bar. He feared wielding power because he did not think he would be able to stop.

From this perspective, the reason that Dumbledore was so determined to keep Harry out of the limelight was that he was protecting Harry from the greatest danger that he personally could imagine, the temptations of power and celebrity. Of course, he attempted to protect Harry from this 'danger' by maintaining absolute control over the boy's entire life, so it seems obvious that he wasn't quite as successful at avoiding his addiction as he'd thought he'd been.

[Dechstreme]

Dumbledore was a powerful wizard, but as a person, he was a mess, and with everyone viewing him through biased eyes, judging him by his great accomplishments and what not, it's a lot of pressure on the poor guy.

[unknown157]

Any thoughts on what Snape is currently up to? If the Authorlord is heeding recent canon updates, Snape was on the Order's side the whole time. His actions in the second timeline were a result of Harry's manipulations. He probably saw the same thing Dumbledore saw, a future Dark Lord. I believe Snape was frustrated by Dumbledore's reluctance to take decisive action against the boy and took matters into his own hands. The agent in place (and Draco) foiled what was a foolish yet (somewhat) well-intentioned plan to expose Harry's doings. While his sacking couldn't have helped his dislike of Harry, he still loves Lily and blames Voldemort for her death. I can't imagine he would ever stop working against Voldy or any other aspiring Dark Lord. I suspect he is still working toward the same goals independently of Dumbledore since trust has been broken on both sides. It might turn out that the team has an unlikely ally at Durmstrang.

And now I must sleep. Maybe my wandering marbles will return to me in the morning.

[Dechstreme]

Nope, no thoughts about it. Although, considering the reputation that Durmstrang has, As the Headmaster, Snape is in a possition to change how things are done in that school. We aren't really given any details about the things he has done over there as Headmaster, we just know that he is.

Also, remember Viktor Krum is a Durmstrang Student, and most definitely a good guy. We just might get more than him next time around, though.

[Wraith422]

As the Headmaster, Snape is in a possition to change how things are done in that school. We aren't really given any details about the things he has done over there as Headmaster, we just know that he is.

Very true, sir. I wonder if that might be some of what Severus' plan is: work at the Durmstrang students from the inside, find out who the redeemable ones are, and who needs a target painted on their backs ASAP. Even lets him get back to doing what he does best; being the deep-cover spy in the Dark forces.

What I'm curious about is whether or not Dumbledore is in the know on this. Frankly, after being coerced into agreeing with the points made above about Dumbledore's competency in terms of being a leader, it seems like he might not have the tactical genius to place Snape in Durmstrang. Not to mention I suspect that at this point, the relationship between the two of them has been strained to breaking. It is certainly possible that Dumbledore crafted this and/or pulled some strings to get Snape the Headmaster position (he seems to do very well at THAT, at least) but I have my doubts that at the moment Severus feels much like being in the same room as Albus, let alone going along with this kind of plan.



BAD thought just entered my head. What if the Authorlord has decided, rather than throw a wrench in the gears of Harry's machinations, to drop an entire toolbag down in there? (Warning: Exceedingly Crackish Thought Line)

What if Snape is off at Durmstrang to get together an Order of the Phoenix 2.0, and stop Harry from becoming the next Dark Lord?

[SLAMU]

It would very likely throw a spanner in Harry's relationship with Mr. Krum, I'm sure.

[WarriorDrgnMage]

It would very likely throw a spanner in Harry's relationship with Mr. Krum, I'm sure.

Or not...

We will not know what Snape is doing until we meet him again during the Triwizard Tournament . Even then there's no way to be certain of anything. Let's face it, Harry antagonized Snape and Malfoy, and pretty much everyone else who was an enemy the first time around. Some of it was foolish, like the situation with Malfoy. What he did with Snape is justifiable. The man was mind raping Harry and his friends. Also Harry could easily have done for Draco what he did for Neville and Luna, but he choose to fight fire with fire. Which, let's face it, made things worse.

Before you all try to flame me, I will say that it's very hard to get past preconceptions. For Draco to change he would have to see past what he's likely been told his entire life about muggles, muggleborns and dark magic. But that cuts two ways Harry really needs to see past who these people were in the future he experienced. Just by being there and aware of what might happened he changed everything! On that first train ride Harry may still having some problems from his ::cough:: Nightmares of Futures Past, so that can explain that meeting. But what about later on? Harry even admitted later on that he made that situation worse.

For Snape I can;t really see what he could have done differently. For most of Harry was reacting and Snape was the aggressor.

For all the good he's done, Harry has also done bad things as well.

[Wraith422]

Well, yes, he has. That's part of why this is such a good fic; Harry is an extremely flawed individual, and while he's aware of that, he also doesn't seem too worried about changing that. So yes, he certainly jumped down Draco's throat at the first moment he opened his mouth, and yes, he was also more than somewhat justified in doing so, considering how venomous of a toad Malfoy already was. However, I see your point about him being very stingy with his second chances.

I honestly couldn't see Harry doing that with Malfoy, though, at least not any further than the "Go further down this path and I'll end you"-type warning he gave him on the train, for a number of reasons. I think that, had Harry chosen to try and forgive Malfoy, to try and redeem him, even the slightest bit (at least into that dark grey area that he appeared to be in for the 17 Years After epilogue) that would've shown incredible maturity and magnanimity, and while we might approve of that, it'd make him stick out even worse to the adults. Not to mention how it might seem if he looked to be cultivating friends from the Death Eater Jr. division. So not only would wander into OOC-Land, it'd also make executing both his short-term and long-term plans rather difficult. And most importantly, the way Harry keeps consistently pwning him in the face makes for great reading.

I have to admit, though, with the question of Harry's behaviour towards previous enemies being brought up, part of me wonders if that's some of the reason Harry and Snape get on even worse this time around; perhaps with his dislike of confrontation, only a few close friends, extreme amounts of knowledge, and his unwillingness to forgive slights, it's possible that Harry reminds Snape less of James and more of himself.

[WarriorDrgnMage]

I have to admit, though, with the question of Harry's behaviour towards previous enemies being brought up, part of me wonders if that's some of the reason Harry and Snape get on even worse this time around; perhaps with his dislike of confrontation, only a few close friends, extreme amounts of knowledge, and his unwillingness to forgive slights, it's possible that Harry reminds Snape less of James and more of himself.

I hadn't even thought of it that way. You make an excellent point. Though I have to wonder if Harry's behavior seems to Snape to be an unsettling mix of both James and himself. Think about, Harry is very opposed to the more prominent Dark Art scions (Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle) just like James was. Sirius being the exception to that, but then Sirius is the ::cough:: white sheep of the Black family. Harry is also viciously loyal and protective of his friends. But then he grew up with the Dursleys who were very cruel to him.

Also, MWPP were supposed to be excellent in their classes and we know that Snape was a potions prodigy if nothing else.

[Joe]

There's also something to consider about Snape with regards to his time as a student; the whomping willow werewolf incident.

Snape's supporters always quickly (and rightly) point out that Sirius telling Snape how to get past the willow was a terrible thing to do. He betrayed Remus's trust and nearly killed Snape. What they never bring up is the fact that Snape willingly followed his advice. He'd seen Remus going to the willow with Madam Pomfrey, so he knew that an adult in a position of authority was involved and thus that he wasn't up to anything wrong, which dismisses any laudable motivations. At best he wanted to find out a secret of Remus's that he could use against him and there are even less innocent possibilities as well when you consider that he was willing associating with a group of violent racists at the time.

As for Lily giving up on Snape, given his ambitions to join said group of violent racists and the fact that it happened towards the end of their fifth year means that she had the patience of a saint with regards to him. Word of God is that he thought that if he became a powerful dark wizard, she'd be really impressed by him. For someone who was so obsessed with her, he didn't seem to understand her as well as he should have.